


Guayabito

by Ethuil



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cuban Lance is Cuban, Domestic Fluff, Keith is pinning - or NOT who knows, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, No Plot/Plotless, They're roommates/housemates, literally nothing happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-18 10:10:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11872140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethuil/pseuds/Ethuil
Summary: Keith can't speak Spanish, pass it on.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's no plot, not really... But Lance is Cuban and so am I, and I needed to shout it out.

Keith woke up startled. Part of him knew he was safely in his room, but he’d been having a dream about fighting aliens and so his mind was still in attack mode… he could practically smell the non-existent danger he was about to face, he was that far into his dream still.

The noise that had initially awoken him came back— he hadn’t even registered it was gone until it came back,— and with it came shouting, cursing, and for some reason trumpets. 

He got out of bed, put on the first pair of pants he found and went out to confront whatever end of the world-sorta thing that was happening in his house. 

As soon as he stepped out of his room he saw Allura applying her lipgloss in front of the hallway mirror, looking very awake and not at all put out by all the noise.

“Good morning,” she said smiling. He nodded in her general direction, eyes still unfocused even though he was getting better at the whole being awake thing. “I’m on grocery shopping duty today, and I’m taking Hunk and Shiro with me.”

“What is going on?” he struggled a little to form the words, in all honesty. His mouth was dry after hours of not drinking water, and his brain was still showing him the rainbow pinwheel of death. He was kind of sure his brain didn’t work the same way his MacBook did, but he still felt like the rainbow pinwheel of death was behind his eyes, making life painful. Or maybe he’d spent too much time working on his essay and now he was part laptop. 

“Lance is cutting up fruit.”

“What?”

“He’s trying to cook a guava-something, so he’s got a whole bunch of fruit he’s cutting up,” Allura said. She saw his confused expression and sighed. “Listen, I don’t know exactly what’s going on either. He’s cooking, and that’s all I’m sure about.”

Keith nodded slowly while Allura checked her bag to see she had everything she needed, she then walked to the end of the hallway, where the kitchen was. Keith decided to follow her— he was feeling adventurous like that.

 

The kitchen, he came to find out, wasn’t the big mess he expected it’d be. Lance was by the counter, a big bowl of peeled fruit to his right, and another bowl with the same peeled fruit but cut up in half to his left. He was working on another piece, Hunk by his side helping him, and Shiro perched on a stool reading something from his laptop.

“It says here you need about 3 cups of sugar, Lance,” he heard Shiro say. 

“Yes, plenty of sugar.”

“No, exactly 3 cups! what if it ends up being too sweet? recipes exist to follow them, Lance.”

“I’ve been doing this with abuelita since I was a kid, I know what I’m doing. Honestly, _asere_ , I got it.” 

Keith looked from Lance to Shiro, the former not even looking up from the fruit he was removing the seed from, and the latter looking a little worried. Allura giggled at Shiro’s defeated sigh and urged him and Hunk to get ready to leave. 

“Morning Keith,” said a smiling Hunk. He folded his apron and left it next to Shiro’s laptop as he made his way towards Allura, Shiro right behind him. “Could you help Lance, if you’re not busy?”

“I said I’ve got this!”

“You also have a lot of fruit to deal with. You might not need help, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it,” reasoned Hunk very wisely, walking towards the front door with Shiro and Allura. Keith saw how three of his roommates left the house, waving him goodbye, and turned to look at Lance. 

Lance looked very focused on the task at hand, turning the fruit in his hand as he scrapped the seeds out of it with a spoon. It was mesmerising to see the almost-loving way in which he held that pink orb thing, and how he softly rotated it in his hand. Keith never thought he’d be jealous of a fruit, but right then and there he would’ve given anything to be that fruit… Not that he was ever gonna tell that to anybody. Or like, admit it to himself. 

Kieth shook his head, running a hand through his hair.

“I’m not going to use all the guayabas on this, so you really don’t need to help me,” Lance addressed him for the first time. “You can go back to bed if you want.”

“I can’t sleep with all the noise you make.”

“What? I’m being quiet!” Lance said, looking from the fruit to Kieth with wide eyes. “I’ve done nothing! I’m innocent!”

“Right, so I’m the only one who can hear your loud-ass music?”

“But that’s not my fault.” Lance said,”it’s Willy Chirino, it’s meant to be _heard_!”

“I’m sure even martians are enjoying this William dude’s music, it’s so loud…”Keith said, and Lance started laughing. “What, what did I say?”

“His name is not William, silly!”

“Whatever his name is, I’m sure he won’t mind if we turned the volume down a little.” Keith walked towards the speaker Lance’s phone was connected to, and lowered the volume significantly. Lance scoffed, and Keith crossed his arms.

“You don’t deserve to eat casquitos with me after what you’ve just done.”

“Castitos?”

“Casquitos.”

“Cascheetos?”

“Casquitos!” Lance said, enunciating each syllable and laughing. Keith stopped even trying, he was never going to live down the embarrassment he felt at that moment. What kind of idiot butchers a seemingly simple Spanish word in front of his Spanish-speaking crush? To be fair, it wasn’t the first time Keith had completely annihilated a word in Spanish in front of Lance but that really did not make things better! If only God would show mercy on him and kill him already… Also, Keith wasn’t crushing on Lance. That would be ridiculous. 

“Casquitos de guayaba,” Lance explained, “you cook the guayaba in a shell-like shape, and you eat it as a snack or dessert.”

“You cook fruit?” Keith asked, accepting a chunk of the fruit from Lance who happily munched on another piece and nodded. Keith took a bite, not wanting to disappoint Lance, but soon discovered the fruit was actually delicious. Sweet, but not overly sweet! Tougher in texture than he had expected, but not bad at all.

“You like it?”

“Yes, but won’t it be super sweet if you cook it with sugar?” Keith asked, remembering what Shiro said. The fruit was perfect the way it was, it most certainly didn’t need any more sugar.

“Pretty much, yea,” Said Lance, placing the last of the guava halves in a pot with water. “That’s why you eat it with cream cheese.”

“What?” Keith asked, slightly surprised. “Do you mean, like, making a cheese frosting or making a cheesecake?”

“Nope,” Lance answered, popping the ‘p’ extra hard. He put the pot on the stove, and turned to Keith. “You served it with a spoonful of cream cheese. You can eat with gouda cheese, too, if you’re feeling fancy, but I like it better with cream cheese.”

“Is this a family recipe or something?”

“Nah, it’s fairly common in Cuba.” Lance went to wash his hands, a broad smile playing on his face. “Cuban people love guayaba, that’s a fact. We make marmalade, dulce de guayaba, casquitos, smoothies, or we eat it as it is.”

“With cheese.”

“Yeah! it can be too sweet sometimes and…” Lance stopped mid-sentence, and looked at Keith in surprise. “How do you call it when something is too sweet but it so good you can’t stop eating it, but like, it is too sweet?”

“I’ve no idea what you’re trying to say,” Keith smiled as Lance ran his hands through his hair. He was adorable… wait, no. No crushes, here. No gay romance. No Bromance. No nothing!

“Okay so picture you’re eating cake,” Lance started and Keith nodded. “But the cake is too sweet. So sweet it…”

“So sweet it makes you sick?” The _like you_ , never made it past Keith’s mind, though. Lance paused to think about it for a few seconds, and Keith cursed himself for not being able to keep is thoughts at bay. He thought Lance was cute, yes— so fucking what! Couldn’t he enjoy a quiet moment without his brain replaying that one Disney song from The Little Mermaid? Keith was so lost in his thoughts he almost missed when the other boy started talking again, but he quickly recovered just in time to hear what he said next.

“It is sweet enough to make you sick, but it’s good so you wanna keep eating it?” Lance tried to explain. “Is that a thing? If that’s a thing, it is totally the thing, I think!”

“So the cheese helps you to not get sick of gubas?”

“Yes, kind of,” Lance said and burst out laughing, “and they’re called guavas”

“Guyvas.”

“Guayabas?”

“Guavaya.”

“Keith, no," Lance was bent over shaking with laughter and Keith was totally embarrassed but also totally mushy on the inside for making Lance laugh like that. “Try saying it in Spanish: guayaba.”

“Guyana.”

"No, that’s… That’s a country, Keith!” Lance said with tears streaming down his face, his words barely coming out he was laughing so hard. “Guayaba!”

“Guadiana!” 

“That’s literally a river in Spain, Keith!” Lance kept laughing, “are you doing this on purpose?” 

“I’m not!” Keith shouted, blushing furiously. He totally was not joking, he was just terrible at languages… He was in his mind sulking about his bad linguistics skills when he heard Lance say the word again.

“Guaiaba!” Keith exclaimed, and saw Lance giving him a double thumbs up. He felt the warmth of pride running freely through his veins, and smiled. It felt so good getting at least one word right!

“You’re a smart cookie, guayabito!” Lance said, and Keith might’ve been terrible at Spanish but he knew that termination was a diminutive suffix added to signify a littler version of the original word. He looked at Lance surprised.

“Am I a tiny guaiaba now?” Keith asked a bit annoyed, assuming he was poking fun at their heights. Just because Lance was taller didn’t give him the right to laugh at Keith like that… even though he always did.

“Nope,” Lance said, again with the hard ‘p’ pop. He walked towards the kitchen door, and right before he left the room he turned to Keith and smiled, “un guayabito es un ratoncito… just like you: chiquitico y lindo.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Keith yelled, but it was of no use since Lance all but ran away down the hallway. Keith stayed there looking at where Lance had been, he then walked towards Shiro’s laptop and went straight to Google Translate. Maybe he didn’t know what Lance had called him, and maybe he didn’t even know how to spell it! But he’d find out one way or another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If ya like it gimme sum kudos, maybe? would an attempt at chapter 2 be welcomed??? I didn't proofread this, sorry, I'll check and fix stuff later <3
> 
>  
> 
> *What Lance says: A guayabito is a little mouse, just like you: small and cute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith asks for help with his Spanish, and cream cheese is really good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay now it's done! Hope you like it, and yes-- casquitos and cream cheese are really good.

It’s not like Keith hadn’t anticipated how hard it’d be to find out what Lance had actually said, and then find out how to even spell it so Google Translate could do its thing… But man it was hard. He’d tried so many possible things that Spanish no longer felt like a human language, but more like he was the guy from Atlantis trying to decode the Atlantean language.  
He was about to give up on his search when he heard a buzz and saw that Lance’s phone was ringing right next to the laptop he was using. Normally he would not have answered, but after looking at the caller ID and seeing it was one of Lance’s sisters he decided to pick it up and maybe ask her directly. Also, it was perfect timing since he’d heard Lance get in the shower, and if living with Lance had taught him anything was that showers were a sacred time that could last either 10 minutes or 2h.

“Lance?” Said Veronica. Keith swallowed and regretted answering the call-- he was pretty sure answering his roommate’s private calls was illegal, but dammit it was too late.  
“Hi-- it’s Keith, actually. Lance left his phone in the kitchen…” He said shyly. He’d met Veronica several times and he knew she was nice, but he also knew she could be very serious sometimes. He hoped she wasn’t feeling too righteous right now.  
“Oh okay,” she said. “Is my brother around, though?”  
“Yes, but I think he’s in the shower.” Said Keith and heard her make a sound for him to go on-- he could tell she was kinda curious about this, since he’d never done it before. “He’s making casquicos de guaiaba.”  
“Casquitos de guayaba, you say? Those are so good. And Lance makes the best casquitos in our family!”  
“Really?”  
“Yeah,” said Veronica. Keith knew he had to ask her now otherwise he could end up annoying her and that would be counterproductive to his search.  
“Yes, so, listen. He called me a guayabito earlier… but i can’t find what it means?” He ended his sentence and felt his heart in his throat. He was probably blushing, he was so embarrassed. To his surprise, though, he heard Veronica giggle.  
“Guayabito is just a small mouse. Did he say anything else?”  
“He did, but I don’t know what.”  
“Hm. Something like ‘chiquitico y lindo’, maybe?” She said, and Keith gave her a very effusive “yes” as an answer. He’d said exactly that.  
“He said that same thing, after saying ‘just like you’ So--” he was trying to explain the situation but Veronica’s loud laughter interrupted him. “Wait, what does that mean? Is it that bad?”  
“Oh no, not at all.” Her voice sounded calm and somewhat sweet as she explained, “He called you small... and cute.”  
“What!?”  
“Yes. Anyway, tell him to call me later, okay?” And with that, Veronica hung up. 

Keith stood there with the phone in his hand for a while longer processing the entire conversation. From picking up a call that wasn’t for him to to finding out Lance had called him cute.  
He put the phone down and just sat there waiting for something to happen. Luckily that something would be an alien invasion that would destroy Earth and he wouldn’t have to worry about what any of what his feelings for Lance meant. Sadly, he was never the lucky type… So he’d have to learn how to deal with this all.  
What worried him the most was what Lance meant: cute as in you’re my friend and i appreciate you? Or cute as in kiss me? He hoped it was the latter… He also hoped he could catch his breath before Lance came back to the kitchen.  
But again-- he’d never been the lucky type, so just as he thought about it, Lance showed up in front of him. Loose t-shirt, loose joggers, hair still wet and curling on his neck. Keith just stared at him silently watching the water droplets fall on his broad shoulders, unconsciously licking his lips. He was feeling thirsty.  
And it was completely lost on him the way Lance’s lips parted when he caught the look on his face, or how his heart skipped a beat when Keith licked his lips.

“Hey,” Lance was the first to say anything. The air in the kitchen felt heavy and it had nothing to do with the stoves. Keith blinked and opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped and shook his head.  
“So,” Keith started saying, very softly. “You think I’m cute.”  
“Yes.” Lance’s answer took Keith by surprise. He thought he’d try to deny it or be a smartass about it, but instead he got a clear answer. “I’ve thought you’re cute for a while. And before you say anything-- I know you like me too.”  
“How do you know?”  
“You’re too obvious,” Lance said smiling. People really didn’t give Lance enough credit for how perceptive he was, but he’d never bought Keith’s aloof exterior and from then on he’d been pretty easy to figure out.  
“So what now?”  
“So now we kiss, mi amor.” Lance walked to Keith so fast he could have teleported for all Keith knew. But instead of kissing him, he just stood there face very close to his, breathing slowly and never breaking eye contact. “Is this okay, though?”  
“Yes.” Said Keith before surprising himself and starting the kiss. He never wanted to admit it but he’d often fantasized about kissing Lance, and in his mind it was amazing… but in real life it felt amazing. Lance’s lips felt like a cold glass of sweet lemonade on a hot day, like waking up with the rain outside and realising you can sleep some more.  
He felt like he was one with the universe, and his restless soul felt at home.

“Did you Google it?” asked Lance soflty, covering Keith’s cheeks in kisses once their need for oxygen had become too strong. Keith blushed, and Lance stopped to get a better look-- it wasn’t every day that Keith blushed.  
“First of all, I’m really sorry I did that… But I wanted to know so badly!”  
“Do what?”  
“Veronica was calling you, so i picked it up and asked her… and she told me.” Keith talked so fast it took Lance a moment to understand what he’d said, but he said nothing just looked at Keith and saw him get redder. “She said you should call her later…”  
“Hm,” said Lance cradling Keith’s face in his hands. “You’re so cute, Keith.” He said right before he kissed him softly on the lips.  
“Aren’t you mad I answered your phone?”  
“Nope,” said Lance walking away from Keith, to stir the guabas on the stove. “But it’d do you good to get Whatsapp, since Vero’s probably told the entire family by now and they’d want to add you to the family group chat.”  
“What’s Whatsapp?”  
“Oh boy.”

Later that night Keith decided that maybe getting Whatsapp wasn’t a bad idea, seeing how Lance’s family had been calling the both of them non-stop to congratulate them and share some gossip. Maybe if all that was happening over texting rather than calls, he’d have time to go get another serving of casquitos because turns out that cooked fruit and cream cheese do work amazingly together.

**Author's Note:**

> If ya like it gimme sum kudos, maybe? would an attempt at chapter 2 be welcomed??? I didn't proofread this, sorry, I'll check and fix stuff later <3
> 
>  
> 
> *What Lance says: A guayabito is a little mouse, just like you: small and cute.


End file.
